The MLB schedule is moving deeper into August and as teams try and move up in the standings to get back into playoff contention, now is the time to start streaking and the Washington Nationals may have the chance to do that after Stephen Strasburg pitched his first career complete game shutout to get the team past the Phillies to complete a three-game sweep.
Washington is now eight games back in the wild card and while that is far out of it, getting on a solid roll is one way to get back in the race and after Strasburg put in a four-hit shutout, that might be the boost that the Nationals need. Kyle Kendrick had another rough outing for the Phillies and Jayson Werth added three hits for Strasburg to support the Nationals in the 6-0 victory that saw the young star strike out 10 batters. Strasburg has been struggling this summer and got his first win since early July and he improved to 6-9 on the season to give Philly their 11th straight loss on the road.
The sweep helped keep the Nationals in range for the National League wild card and while the AL East is out of reach with the Braves killing it in the division, the postseason isn't totally hopeless. The last time the Phillies were swept by the Nationals franchise was back in 2003 when they were still the Expos and now Strasburg is back in the winning column finally after going 0-3 in his last five starts and laboring through a couple of those games.
National League
NATIONAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
St. Louis 67 50 .573 - 34-22 33-28 574 434 +140 Won 1 4-6
Cincinnati 65 52 .556 - 37-20 28-32 503 431 +72 Won 1 6-4
Arizona 59 57 .509 5.5 33-26 26-31 484 479 +5 Lost 2 5-5
Washington 57 60 .487 8 34-28 23-32 442 465 -23 Won 3 5-5
